New Spitzer Ad – Property Taxes

In a departure from most of AG Eliot Spitzer’s gubernatorial campaign ads, this one features him on screen for the majority of its 30-second duration. It also riffs off his “day one, everything changes” theme from the Democratic convention.

In the ad, titled “Simple, Fair, Important,” Spitzer doesn’t get into the specifics of his plan, which is essentially an expansion of the STAR school tax exemption with the bulk of the benefits targeted at the middle class.

Some, including Gov. George Pataki, under whom STAR was created, and Spitzer’s two opponents, have criticized the plan because it lacks a school spending cap. Several studies have shown that STAR has had the unintended consequence of encouraging some districts to spend more and raise taxes, telling residents that the state’s picking up the extra cost.

Then again, it doesn’t really matter what other people say, since, unlike Spitzer, they don’t have some $19 million (at last count) with which to blast their message hither and yon.

Here’s the script, it’s all Spitzer speaking with stills cut in of “regular” people (if you look closekly, you’ll recognize a few from ads past). The ad starts running statewide tonight:

“Property taxes are strangling our future. We canâ€™t bring New York back if people canâ€™t afford to live here.

Right now, property taxes are driving young people out of the state and seniors out of their homes.

On day one, that starts changing.

We make government leaner, more efficient. We overhaul Medicaid so middle class families who need a property tax cut the most will get the most.